I would like to share with you some new features I've added in release 1.0.012 of "IZ2UUF Morse Koch CW" Android application, after having tested them myself.Together with some minor enhancements, there are some majour features.

SPEECH ASSISTED TRAININGThis new feature is based on a synthesized voice that is able to spell words using the ICAO alphabet.When active, after each CW word, the voice will repeat the word using "alpha", "bravo", "charlie", etc.I'm liking myself this feature a lot because:1) I can exercise while trekking: I listen to CW, I repeat mentally what I heard using the ICAO alphabet, then the voice gives me the solution. In this way I can immediately know whether I was wrong or right. Then it goes to the next word. Of course it works on any word, either random or taken from a file.2) It trains short-term memory for CW strings. I found this exercise extremely effective when catching callsigns.

HARD LETTERSA new extremely useful feature is the "hard letters" setup.This configuration screen allows selecting the letters that we find hard to detect.These letters will get a boost in their frequency during random generation.As I have been able to experiment myself, this feature seems able to quickly reduce the number of errors.

AUTOMATIC HARD LETTERSThe "hard letters" feature is applied automatically to the last two letters of the Koch sequence.This makes sense because the last letters of the sequence are very new to us and they need an higher exposure than the well known older letters.

KOCH-LIKE TRAINING ON WORDSEveryone is able to immediately recognize "CQ" in CW. This word is so common that even OM's that do not know CW are able to recognize it.In order to extend this ability to other common words (like "73", "DX", "MY", "NAME", "RIG", "UR", "HR", etc.), I added a feature that works like the Koch method but on words.First, we have to create a list of words, either on a text file or in the "custom string" area.Then by selecting "Character Sequence" -> "Koch training on words", the application start proposing the first two words of the list.When we are able to recognize each of them confortably, we can go to "Koch level" and add another word.This exercise should be done listening the words at high speed.

MINOR FIXES- Made moveable to SD-card- When a file is loaded, its name is printed on the main screen- Fixed bug: the number of letters used to compose a word were one more than the value selected in "Word length".- Speed now goes up to 100 wpm- Added a WPM quick bar on the main screen.

As always, this free and ad-free application can be downloaded from Google Play under the name IZ2UUF Morse Koch CW.For people not accessing Google Play, the .apk can be downloaded directly from my web site.

I like your program. It works well on my Samsung phone. I just wish it was available for i-phone since I have switched phones. But.......a great portable program that functions as described! Good job and thank you for sharing with the amateur radio community.73 Leslie, ad5wbLeague City, Texas

I like your program. It works well on my Samsung phone. I just wish it was available for i-phone since I have switched phones. But.......a great portable program that functions as described! Good job and thank you for sharing with the amateur radio community.

Thanks Leslie.

It is an honour for me to have the opportunity to share something mine after the HAM community has given so much to me.By the way, I can't believe there isn't a similar replacement on the IPhone!

Davide, I just posted on another forum about how much I like your App. My wife (kg7bfp) never had an interest in learning CW until i showed her the app...now she is addicted. Thanks for the time you put into it. You are a credit to the HAM community.

I just posted on another forum about how much I like your App. My wife (kg7bfp) never had an interest in learning CW until i showed her the app...now she is addicted. Thanks for the time you put into it. You are a credit to the HAM community.

Thanks Tim for your comment!You used the word "addicted"... well I am afraid that this app might cause some sort of "Tetris effect".At least it did with me, I'm hearing CW sequences everywhere: I'm sure there is a bird near my house that twits "5NN"; the fries oven at McDonald's repeats "sierra sierra sierra" and so on. :-)

Thanks Tim for your comment!You used the word "addicted"... well I am afraid that this app might cause some sort of "Tetris effect".At least it did with me, I'm hearing CW sequences everywhere: I'm sure there is a bird near my house that twits "5NN"; the fries oven at McDonald's repeats "sierra sierra sierra" and so on. :-)

I love your app, but for the life of me, and this will be really stupid, I can not figure out how to add a new letter. Do you just have to make a custom string? That's what I've been doing, but I just feel like you didn't set it up that way.

I love your app, but for the life of me, and this will be really stupid, I can not figure out how to add a new letter. Do you just have to make a custom string? That's what I've been doing, but I just feel like you didn't set it up that way.

Hello W5VTC.

If by "add a new letter" you mean the normal "Koch" training, there is a simple way to do it.The program has two letter sequences programmed:1) LCWO (KMURESNAPTLWI.JZ=FOY,VG5/Q92H38B?47C1D60X)2) G4FON (KMRSUAPTLOWI.NJEF0YV,G5/Q9ZH38B?427C1D6X)

Under the option named "Characters sequence", select either "G4FON sequence" or "LCWO sequence".Then under the option "Koch level", select which level you are at. For example, selecting "S" (with the LCWO sequence), it will play letters "KMURES".

If by "add a new letter" you mean doing the Koch training with your own custom sequence, you have to select "Chars from custom string" in "Characters sequence". Then the program will play characters chosen from the custom string. In this case, if you want to change the set of active characters, you have to add/delete them from the custom string.Actually, more than allowing user defined progressive sequences, this feature was thought to allow definining small subset to heavily train "hard" letters.

Let me know if there is any further feature you would like to see in one of the next releases.

I love your app, but for the life of me, and this will be really stupid, I can not figure out how to add a new letter. Do you just have to make a custom string? That's what I've been doing, but I just feel like you didn't set it up that way.

Hello W5VTC.

If by "add a new letter" you mean the normal "Koch" training, there is a simple way to do it.The program has two letter sequences programmed:1) LCWO (KMURESNAPTLWI.JZ=FOY,VG5/Q92H38B?47C1D60X)2) G4FON (KMRSUAPTLOWI.NJEF0YV,G5/Q9ZH38B?427C1D6X)

Under the option named "Characters sequence", select either "G4FON sequence" or "LCWO sequence".Then under the option "Koch level", select which level you are at. For example, selecting "S" (with the LCWO sequence), it will play letters "KMURES".

If by "add a new letter" you mean doing the Koch training with your own custom sequence, you have to select "Chars from custom string" in "Characters sequence". Then the program will play characters chosen from the custom string. In this case, if you want to change the set of active characters, you have to add/delete them from the custom string.Actually, more than allowing user defined progressive sequences, this feature was thought to allow definining small subset to heavily train "hard" letters.

Let me know if there is any further feature you would like to see in one of the next releases.

73 de Davide IZ2UUF

Thank you very much. Just the information I needed. Keep up the great work. 73

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